'I feared that I was going to be demoted,' deputy warden testifies

CP

TORONTO - The former deputy warden of a prison in which a teenager choked to death said on Thursday she was following orders in directing guards to stay out of her cell unless the inmate was in medical distress.

In a second day of testimony, Joanna Pauline said the orders on dealing with Ashley Smith came from the warden, Cindy Berry, a woman the deputy formally accused of harassment.

"I did feel under pressure," Pauline told inquest jurors.

"I feared that I was going to be demoted."

Still, Pauline denied putting her career aspirations ahead of Smith's well-being, and said the approach was endorsed by Correctional Service of Canada brass, who were watching closely.

It was important, she said, that everyone followed the management plan for the disturbed teen which essentially involved ignoring Smith if she was acting out.

Asked if the approach was misguided, she demurred.

"Ashley is dead," Pauline said. "The plan didn't work."

Smith, 19, of Moncton, N.B., choked herself to death in her segregation cell at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ont., in October 2007, as guards videotaped but did not intervene.

Despite increasingly frantic concern among the officers that Smith would strangle herself, Pauline had sent underlings numerous memos critical of them for going into the cell to save the inmate.

Pauline denied a guard warned her the cell-entry directive was "unlawful" and "stupid."

Given the memos, guards became increasingly reluctant to enter Smith's segregation cell, even when she was turning blue or purple from ligatures around her neck.

"I didn't realize that's what I was doing," Pauline said.

"The intent of the direction was to ensure compliance with policy and procedure."

Four days before Smith died, the prison psychologist warned Pauline the teen had become severely suicidal.

That same night, Pauline told a prison manager worried that Smith would kill herself on his shift to stick to the management plan.

"I didn't have that authority to discontinue the plan," she testified.